Comic Characters: Campbellian* Or Not? Samantha Matos Southeastern University - Lakeland, [email protected]
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Southeastern University FireScholars Classical Conversations Spring 2019 Comic Characters: Campbellian* or Not? Samantha Matos Southeastern University - Lakeland, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://firescholars.seu.edu/ccplus Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Playwriting Commons Recommended Citation Matos, Samantha, "Comic Characters: Campbellian* or Not?" (2019). Classical Conversations. 4. https://firescholars.seu.edu/ccplus/4 This Term Paper is brought to you for free and open access by FireScholars. It has been accepted for inclusion in Classical Conversations by an authorized administrator of FireScholars. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Matos 1 Samantha Matos Dr. G. Veach ENGL 1233 Survey of Old Testament April 2nd, 2019 Comic Characters: Campbellian* or Not? There exists a peculiar pattern throughout numerous stories worldwide, which Joseph Campbell christens the ‘monomyth’ in his work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1; Rickett; Kalliokoski 13; Koh 741; Thigpen 4, Gavaler 16). Matt Rickett recognizes that Campbell understands “…that every culture all around the globe had the same story beats in all their myths.” If this is true, then the pattern should be evident in the superhero genre as well. I propose that the Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Batman characters, as they pertain to the Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Batman Begins movies, fit the monomyth theory. Arguing this idea will involve information concerning the various characters, their films, and the monomyth theory itself. Background Information for Iron Man First, it is beneficial to provide some background information for these fictional heroes. Stan Lee served as “…the art director, editor, and chief writer at Marvel Comics…” in 1963 (Robinson 824). That year, he unleashed a rather controversial character known as Tony Stark, whom Ashley Sufflé Robinson claims that audiences would have loathed (824). In an interview mentioned in “The Invincible Iron Man” (qtd. in Robinson), Lee discusses his controversial character: “I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like…and shove him down their throats and make them like him” (Robinson 824). Lee mentions in the same article (qtd. in Robinson) that Stark is a wealthy “weapons manufacturer” (Robinson 824). Matos 2 One can conclude that his character proved to be an unexpected choice for a superhero in a time when America suffered through the Cold War and the war in Vietnam (Robinson 824). Iron Man would go on to become one of Marvel’s most iconic characters starring in a number of comic books, television shows, and movies. In fact, of the ten films which have the highest global grosses ever, Iron Man stars in three of them: Marvel’s The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Avengers: Infinity War (“All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses”). Notably, Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark in the Avengers films, as well as in Mark Fergus’s Iron Man (2008) and the two sequels (“All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses”; Fergus). His performance remains among the most famous representations of the character and began with the first Iron Man. This film displays the origin story of a conceited billionaire who transforms into a superhero. Stark is abducted by terrorists, then invents a metal suit which he uses to combat his enemies and escape. After returning to the States, Stark builds an improved model of the suit, which he uses to fight criminals (Fergus). Background Information for Spider-Man The character of Spider-Man shares certain elements with Iron Man, such as being a superhero who possesses, as Jonathan J. Sanford puts it, “massive appeal” (2). His popularity is supported by the fact that the movie Spider-Man grossed $403,706,375 (“All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses”; “Superhero Movies at the Box Office”). Moreover, the Spider-Man character made it in five of the top twenty highest grossing superhero films from 1978 to the current year (“Superhero Movies at the Box Office”). In further similarity to Iron Man, Spider- Man is yet another Marvel character attributed to Stan Lee (Sanford 2). In fact, Lee introduced the young crimefighter in Amazing Fantasy #15, the year before Stark’s first comic (Sanford 2). The hero’s adventures progressed beyond comics to include television, a Broadway show, and Matos 3 movies (Van de Water 23; Sanford 2). One such film, Koepp’s Spider-Man, tells the tale of Peter Parker, a brainy teenager who receives arachnid-themed superpowers after being bitten by a spider that was enhanced for scientific purposes (Koepp; Koh 735; Van de Water 31). Throughout the tragic origin story, Parker learns to value responsibility and to utilize his spectacular abilities to protect New York’s citizens against those who would hurt them (Koepp). Background Information for Batman In contrast to Marvel’s wise-cracking wall-crawler, Detective Comics (DC) provided the world with a darker warrior (Sanford 3; Gavaler 17 for DC). Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s Batman debuted in 1939, in Detective Comics #27 (Gavaler 17; Thigpen 4). The superhero went on to thrill fans through television and movies as well as comics (Gavaler 17; Thigpen 4; Van de Water 23). Furthermore, Wesley Colin Van de Water acknowledges the masked defender as one of the “…oldest surviving superheroes in existence” (18, 23). Impressively, from 1989 to 2017, Batman has appeared in twelve movies (“Batman Movies at the Box Office”; Whedon). One of those films, Batman Begins, was directed by Christopher Nolan and details Bruce Wayne’s story of becoming a legendary crusader for justice in his city (Goyer; Van de Water 109, 27). It tells of Wayne’s heartbreaking origin story from the loss of his parents to his travels and to his transformation into a dangerous combatant (Goyer; Van de Water 18, 63). Much of the film centers on his return to the city of Gotham and his struggle to defend it from villains (Goyer). The Monomyth Now that the history of Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Batman has been discussed, it is time to explain the monomyth. Many people find mythology intriguing, but Joseph Campbell seems to have possessed a passion for it. I assert this claim, because he did not simply enjoy the stories, he analyzed them (Thigpen 4; Kalliokoski 13; Rickett). Campbell researched diverse tales from Matos 4 across cultures and used their similarities to determine a pattern that great stories seemed to follow (1; Thigpen 4; Rickett; Kalliokoski 13). He christened this pattern the monomyth (1; Thigpen 4; Rickett;). Though the monomyth is not the only story pattern in existence, it is perhaps one of the most famous. (More versions of story patterns are attributed to Dan Harmon, Kurt Vonnegut, and Christopher Vogler, among others) (Rickett). This “metanarrative of humanity,” as Andrew Thigpen calls it, forms a central part of Campbell’s 1949 work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (4; Campbell 1). It could be argued that Campbell did not truly create the monomyth, but regardless, his book popularized it (Rickett). The hero’s journey, another moniker for the monomyth, portrays a protagonist who enters a new kind of realm, accomplishes his mission, and ventures home with power, knowledge, and probably treasure of some kind (Rickett; Kalliokoski 19, 13; Campbell 42, 48, 167). This monomyth theory consists of three larger sections of “separation, initiation, and return” (Kalliokoski 13; Campbell vii, viii). Moreover, it can be extended into seventeen smaller steps: “Call to Action,” “Refusal of Call,” “Supernatural Aid,” “Crossing the Threshold,” “Belly of the Whale,” “The Road of Trials,” “Meeting the Goddess,” “Temptation,” “Atonement with the Father,” “Apotheosis,” “The Ultimate Boon,” “Refusal of Return,” “Magic Flight,” “Rescue from Without,” “Crossing the Return Threshold,” “Master of Two Worlds,” and “Freedom to Live” (note: I used Rickett’s titles, which are very similar, but not identical, to Campbell’s) (Rickett; Kalliokoski 14; Campbell vii, viii). Interestingly, not all of these steps are necessary for a character to journey through the monomyth and many of them serve as alternatives to each other (Kalliokoski 17). For example, steps seven through ten can be seen as different options for the character to experience (Kalliokoski 17; Rickett). How Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Batman Fit the Monomythic Steps Matos 5 The story begins with the protagonist receiving his invitation to the journey that carries the whole plot. This step, the “Call to Action,” starts the phase of separation (Rickett; Kalliokoski 14). It is closely linked with the second step, “Refusal of the Call” (Kalliokoski 15; Rickett). Here, the protagonist wastes the glorious opportunity that has been gifted to him and opts to remain where he is, versus abandoning his homebound responsibilities and venturing on a risky journey (Rickett; Kalliokoski 15). Given enough time and pressure, however, the hero rethinks his stance and takes up the quest (Rickett). Stark experiences the first step in Iron Man, when a reporter known as Christine Everhart challenges the morality of his position as a weapons seller (Kalliokoski 35; Fergus). Stark then quickly chooses the second step as he treats Everhart with disrespect, rejects his invitation to adventure, and chooses to remain living his current lifestyle (Kalliokoski 35, 36). For Parker, his “Call to Action” comes a bit farther into his story (Rickett; Van de Water 34, 35). Before it comes, he acquires superpowers through the bite of a genetically enhanced spider (Van de Water 31). He then uses his abilities to embarrass and mildly injure Flash Thompson, a school bully (Van de Water 34; Koepp). The call comes later as Parker’s Uncle Ben tries to help him understand the importance of responsibility (Van de Water 34; Koepp).